Sixth District Representative Hon Alvera Maduro-Caines has advocated for an 'overhaul' of civil servants' salaries and that students wishing to pursue a career in the medical field or the teaching profession be given priority for government scholarships. Photo: GIS

Minister for Education and Culture Hon Myron V. Walwyn. According to Sixth District Representative Hon Alvera Maduro-Caines, she received several phone calls from students, especially in the medical field of studies, indicating that they have been turned down for scholarships. Photo: VINO/File

Hon Maduro-Caines spent less than fifteen minutes on the floor during the “Any Other Business” section at the First Sitting of the Second Session of the Third House of assembly on Friday September 23, 2016 giving an overview of work done and to be executed in her district before moving on to the two topics she said are of concern to her at this time.

Civil Servants’ pay

According to Hon Maduro-Caines, she does not know when last the Government took a look at the salary scale for civil servants.

She said that based on what she has discovered, in looking at some of the placements/assigned salaries to some positions, it does not make much sense. “Honourable Premier, I think it’s time that some kind of group is put together and overhaul the salary system of civil servants.”

“There are too many positions and applied salaries, to me, that doesn’t make sense and it does not look right. That’s why I ask the question when last did someone sit down and really overhaul the salary system, the grade point system of the civil servants?” noted the Sixth District Representative in the House of Assembly.

Hon Maduro-Caines said that the responses she would have gotten when asked questions about this ‘does not fit’. “This is something I think we need to seriously look into and have it overhauled to suit. Yes, I understand that we are at a point where we may not have much money but we can still look at this and see some how we can fix it to suit better than how it is now because to me it’s not adding up.”

Government scholarship for medical Students/educators

Hon Maduro-Caines said she received several phone calls from students, especially in the medical field of studies, indicating that they have been turned down for scholarships. “And while I understand Honourable [Myron V.] Walwyn, that we can’t give scholarships to everyone, I have always had it in my spirit that anytime a student applies for scholarship in the medical field or education, they should not be turned down no matter what.”

Justifying her statement, she said that medical persons are a set that the system of the Virgin Islands (VI) will always have need for. “We are always going to need doctors and nurses, we are always going to need teachers and I am asking that something be done, some other kind of help could be given to these students who are applying for scholarships to become educators or doctors.”

She was keen to underscore that she is not implying that other careers are not important but the two mentioned are of key importance. “And I think some kind of provision needs to be made where when these students apply for these scholarship’s they be given to them, if not scholarships, through some other means because we are going to need them. We are always going to need doctors and teachers here in our country.”